are often classified as independent contractors. The truckers have some sort of sham purchase of the truck they run -- I don't know whether it is a lease, but it is something of a sham. Because they are independent contractors, they do not have the rights of employees -- although they really are employees.

Sometimes they are not allowed to join a union -- because they don't qualify as employees.

They can sit around for long periods of time and not collect any pay.

Yet their pay is in many cases barely enough to live on.

The truckers can't strike openly because they will lose their jobs, but their working conditions are just a great example of what is wrong in the American workplace today.

Besides -- what are they doing? They carry some of our products to the ports, but mostly they transport stuff we buy from other countries and should be producing ourselves.

We need to stop and ask why the multinational companies are still importing so much cheap, slave-labor-made junk into our country when so many Americans are out of work? How do we adjust our tax system and reform our society so that Americans have work and the opportunity to earn a decent living.

The international business done at our ports is a big problem for us. As a nation, we simply cannot afford to import more than we export at this time when we supposedly owe so much money.